23 November 2009

J has been having a little trouble leaving Mommy lately. A friend and I swap toddlers each Friday so we can take turns volunteering at the elementary school. We've got a great system worked out, and J ultimately has fun playing with his little toddler friend, but he gets pretty upset when I leave him. My friend suggested I leave a photo with him. Great idea! I thought, but how can I protect it so he can hold it?

I looked around my craft desk and came up with a plan for a plastic-covered, double-sided photo frame, with the edges wrapped in felt. Very secure and toddler-friendly, so he can love all over it and it will stay intact.Instructions:

Sandwich a piece of sturdy cardboard between two photos. The cardboard should be the same size as your photos.

Find some sturdy, but flexible plastic. I used an old clear envelope. A sheet of acetate would probably work well, too.

Cut two pieces of plastic slightly larger than your photos. Mine are about 1/2" larger on each side to allow for glue and later stitching.

Place your photo sandwich on one piece of plastic.

Run a bead of strong craft glue all around the edge of the plastic. I avoided getting any glue on my photo, because I wanted to be able to disassemble the frame later, if necessary. You may not have to be so careful.

Cut felt into long strips, wide enough to wrap around the edge of the plastic and reach your photo (so you don't see the clear plastic edges).

Stitch felt to plastic as desired. I went for a rustic, handmade look with a simple running stitch. I did this by hand. I made my stitches quite large--if the stitches are too close together, the plastic may tear like a sheet of perforated paper.

Miter corners by folding and stitching. (See below.) This is similar to a quilt binding, but not quite the same. I had to play with it a bit.

Alternately, for those with a sewing aversion, you could just use more glue to attach the felt.

Hi, I am new to your blog and wanted to tell you how much I love this project. You use supplies that most of us already have at home, and my kiddo is going to love this. This is a project I feel I can do without running to the store (which I do not have the time to do).

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